Freeze those Black Cherry Tomatoes before Peeling!

 I know this probably sounds really strange to those of you who have been growing veggies for a really long time, but I'm a 38 year old woman who has never tried to grow tomatoes in my entire life! IKR?! 

Anyways, my tomatoes have really taken off this year -- there are a ton of them!  Most of them are still very green, but some are HUGE!  So, I've started taking them off the vine to make some different things with them.  

This post isn't a green tomato post as much as it is about something I learned from Pinterest!  

Mom brought me a bag of small tomatoes -- called black cherry tomatoes.  They are super small -- and I wanted to do something with them (like salsa, tomato sauce, pasta sauce.... something!) so I turned to good ole' Pinterest to save the day.  

I came across this post that suggested that if I wanted to use them to make any sort of sauce, I should freeze them before peeling them.  AND GUESS WHAT?!?!  It works!!!!!!! 

 

I even got my daughter in on the action.  

Last Saturday -- we started making pasta sauce, that my husband then doctored up and we ate for dinner.  Delicious!

Luau Birthday Party

 

 

Before we left TX, my daughter turned 8.  For her birthday, she asked that we have an island/luau theme (gosh.... y'all remember when we actually had birthday parties?!?!)  What resulted in her being really interested in this theme (I think) was that she had found a box of leis I had in our garage that I bought at Goodwill.  She thought they were so cool and colorful and wanted to give them to everyone. 

So the planning began.

At other birthday parties for my children, I often used a poster board background for the cake table, so I used a blue one and covered it with luau themed bulletin board supplies from the Dollar Tree (most of my decorations came from Dollar Tree).  

Her cake was so colorful and came from HEB (gosh I miss that grocery store).  I ordered a pinata birthday cake -- when you cut into it -- sprinkles fell out :)  Yumm!!

The other food for the day was all "island" themed.  We had a lot of fruit, and island themed drinks.  The kids also had snowcones that we made using flavors we picked up from Buzzles (a local TX snow cone shop).

 

As for party favors - everyone got a lei 😆  

 

I also set up a ring toss game in the backyard with flamingos I picked up at the Dollar Tree -- and our bouncehouse made an appearance (and all of the kids got in it to collapse it - LOL.  

 

It was a great birthday party!

Baked Yellow Squash Parmesan Bites

 

Ok -- before we get started talking about everything that has happened with me and my family over the past three years, I wanted to share this recipe with you that I actually just made an hour ago.  For those of you who have grown yellow squash in your gardens, if you are anything like me - you probably have gone looking for ways to use up the squash you have grown.  I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest and tried it out -- and it turned out really good (and it is super simple -- which is the only type of recipes I appreciate - ha!).  

Also - if you are doing a low-carb diet like Keto, you should try this recipe!

Baked Yellow Squash Parmesan Bites

Items needed: Yellow Squash, Salt/Pepper, Garlic Salt, Parmesan Cheese (ok... yes... that's like 5 ingredients -- but technically you don't have to use the salt/pepper and garlic salt -- I did and loved it).

1. Cut your squash in slices (take off top and bottom -- discard).

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (this will help with the baking process).  Turn on your oven to 350.

3. Lay your squash slices on the baking sheet (on the parchment paper)

4. Dust each slice with some salt, pepper, garlic salt (this is the step you could skip -- but I think this really adds to the recipe)

5. Place a spoonfull of parmesan cheese on top of each slice.

6. Bake until brown.

 

(and yes - that's my son's favorite pizza baking above the squash!)

7. EAT! (the most important step)

I'm Back!!!!!!

 

Oh my goodness.... it's been over three years since I last posted here!  For those of you who have followed me for years on here (and on other blogs -- like the Clearance Chick), thanks for sticking around 😉

We have much to discuss!  

In terms of the content of this page - the last few posts here were from my daughter's 6th birthday party (she's now 9!) and from when I started my weight-loss journey on Keto. Since that time, I've continued on a Keto diet (and maintained my weight), sold my first home, moved across the country to start a new job (from Texas to VA -- where I grew up), bought a new-to-me home, and celebrated multiple birthdays.  I can't wait to tell you all about everything!  

Grab a Diet Coke and pull up a chair -- let's talk about how life has been, and check out the projects I've tried and succeeded (failed) at over the past three years.